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If you love spicy food, there’s a new sweet treat hitting store shelves for Easter that you will definitely want to get your hands on: Hot Tamales Peeps!
The new Hot Tamales Peeps take the flavor of Hot Tamales and the color, resulting in bright red, cinnamon-flavored Peeps. Hot Tamales candy is made by Just Born, the same company as Peeps, so it seems only fitting that there is a crossover of the two treats. However, there’s an even more fitting way the two flavors go together.
Along with milk, sugar is often suggested when you have eaten something too spicy, as it helps to break down the heat. So, even if you don’t think you can handle the flavor of Hot Tamales Peeps, when the heat of the cinnamon is in Peeps form, you might be just fine — even though the packaging calls this “fierce cinnamon.”
This is not the first time the Peeps brand has veered away from their classic flavor. Previously, they’ve had everything from pancakes and syrup to sour cherry, orange sherbet and root beer float.
Of course, you can still get the original flavor in yellow, pink or blue and this year, and they also have party cake Peeps, sour watermelon and chocolate pudding Peeps. You can try all the new flavors in a variety pack that also comes with a plush yellow Peep for $19.99 at Walmart.
If you like trying new recipes, you might want to get more inventive with your Peeps. Duncan Hines and Peeps teamed up to make a baking kit you can buy on Amazon, or you can even make your own Peeps at home! While making them yourself might sound like a huge ordeal, it’s not that hard. All you need is yellow gel, black food coloring and powder gelatin, plus a few other ingredients you likely already have on hand like sugar, water and vanilla.
If you’re a true Peeps fanatic, hopefully you were able to grab some Peeps-flavored Oreo cookies and Peeps coffee creamer when it was around for a limited time. If not, keep an eye out in stores for Peeps-flavored goodies the closer we get to Easter.
For now, you can buy limited-edition Crocs with Peeps on them to show off your love for the little chicks, and Bath & Body Works even has an Easter line with a product that will remind you of the marshmallowy treat. Their Let’s Get Eggcited candle has chicks on the label and scents of fluffy marshmallow, creamy vanilla and whipped sweet cream, so you can fill your home with the scent of Peeps — just in case eating them isn’t enough.
If you’re looking for other spicy candies, however, there are plenty to choose from. While Hot Tamales have been around since the 1950s and still remains a top chewy cinnamon confection in the U.S., other brands have created similar treats.
Red Hots are probably what comes to mind first when thinking of other cinnamon-flavored candy, and are also quite popular, though they are not (initially) chewy like a Hot Tamale. Red Hots have been around since the 1930s, and the same cold panned candy method used to make them then is still used today. While some people like to eat them by the handful, they are also often used on birthday cakes and as a decoration on gingerbread houses at Christmas time.
There are also cinnamon gumballs from Double Bubble, and the brandy Jelly Belly makes cinnamon gummy bears. If cinnamon actually isn’t hot enough for you, Jelly Belly also has an entire line of spicy jelly beans.
Called Fiery Five, the jelly beans are meant to challenge spicy food lovers to see how much heat they can really handle. The flavors (listed in order of least hot to hottest) include: sriracha, jalapeno, cayenne, habanero and Carolina reaper.
Are you a fan of spicy foods? Will you be trying the new Hot Tamales Peeps?
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